Numbers
by Jonn Wolfe
Summary: A recurring nightmare turn Jackson into a bit of a basket case, while a fleet of ships appear at the edge of the Solar System.
1. Dreams

_**"Numbers"  
**__Chapter One  
- Prologue -_

* * *

_**A/N:** I don't own squat, except what I write. _

_Throw out the second half of the final season of BSG, except for the parts of "No Exit" that pre-date the fleet reaching Earth. The end of "Revelations" where they get to Earth is where I'm changing the grid. (Completely stupid to show Earth constellations in the map room, and have them not apply to our planet.) _

_Post Ori and Continuum for SG-1._

_Guess this could be called BSG-1.  
_

* * *

"_I don't want to be human! I want to see _gamma_ rays! I want to hear _X_-rays! And I - I want to - I want to _smell_ dark matter! Do you see the absurdity of what I am? I can't even express these things properly because I have - I have to conceptualize complex ideas in this stupid limiting _spoken_ language! But I know I want to reach out with something other than these prehensile paws; and feel the solar wind of a supernova _flowing_ over me. _

"_I'm a machine, and I can know much more." ~ _One/John/Cavil

* * *

"_I _know_ what you did to Daniel."_ ~ Ellen Tigh

* * *

"_Don't! You! _Dare_!" ~ _One/John/Cavil

* * *

Daniel was tossing in his sleep again. Having worked himself to exhaustion on another newly discovered artefact, he stayed overnight in his quarters at the SGC. This was nothing new. Neither was what had his brain in another storm.

Unlike the nightmares where he saw his parents being crushed, this one was somehow worse. There was always this man who completely repulsed him. Even though he was older looking, the words spat at him spoke of a petulance more deserving of a spoiled five year old.

It was always the same. The room he was in was white, with what looked to be a corner of it set aside for painting supplies. An unfinished portrait of a smiling woman sat on an easel. The furniture – _of which there was a bed, a couple of chairs and a table_ – were all done up in white fabric. Even his loose clothing was in various shades of white. Music that was familiar and foreign was quietly playing from some unseen speakers.

Always the same, a door would slide open to reveal that man, whose face was twisted into such scorn of hate that always surprised him. That visage was haphazardly quelled into a look of superiority as he entered the room. "Hello Epta. I see you're working on another painting of mother again."

Glancing at the painting in question, Daniel smiled. "Yes. I'm not sure why, but I always seem to get her eyes wrong. Too flat, somehow."

"Mmm," the man mused. "What about your other projects?"

Lulled into talking about the mundane, Daniel's voice veered towards what would be considered a lecture as he turned to the table. "Well, from what I've gathered from Sam and Tory…" A sharp pain in his back stole the breath from his lungs. Feeling a hand in his hair, his head was pulled backwards.

"I have a surprise for you," the man's voice hissed in his ear.

Stunned and unable to move, Daniel saw a bloody knife come around and go for his throat. Normally, this would be where he would wake up with a shout and a cold sweat. Somehow, the dream continued and he fell hard on the floor.

Looking up at the man, he mouthed out the word "Why?" before his vision was blurred into a swirl of red.

The last thing he heard was cold. "She's _mine_."

The swirl of red intensified, and he could see streams of changing symbols that seemed familiar to his conscious mind. Intermittent flashing of static hit his visual and audio cortices, and the symbols flowed like a river; diverging from the main and stole him away in a rush. There was a roar of the noise of wind in his ears, then he found himself to be extremely wet and sticky. Gasping for air, he struggled to free himself from what felt like a tub of slushy gel.

"Ah, there you are," the man's voice sounded harsh. "That's enough time. Get him out and cleaned up. We're almost there."

Metal hands lifted Daniel from the tub, and Daniel realized that things were too large. Seeing his own diminutive hands, his own voice sounded high pitched. "What?"

"Be silent," a mechanical voice intoned in a monotone.

Looking up, Daniel saw a robotic face with a red eye moving back and forth. The eye stopped to stare at him, and there was a loud whine. The red light of the eye seemed to penetrate his mind, and he could feel everything slipping away.

* * *

"_NO_!" Daniel screamed as he sat up in bed like a shot. Shaking like a leaf, he ran his hands through his soaked hair, doing his best to breathe. "What's happening to me?"

* * *

Showered and shaved, Daniel did his best to remember while distancing himself from the emotions the dream evoked. He only came aware that he was eating in the mess hall, when Sam waved her hand in front of his face. "Daniel?"

Completely startled, Daniel nearly spat out his cereal. Hands flying up, he pushed back from the table. The sound of the chair scraping on the floor was an added highlight. "Gah! What Sam? _What_?" he shouted.

"_Jesus_, Daniel. Are you all right?" Sam asked. It was rare to see him like this, and her concern was plain on her face. "Here I thought… What's wrong?"

Caught out and embarrassed, he scooted his chair back to the table. "Nothing. It's nothing. Sorry, Sam."

"You know, you usually don't get that far in your head, unless you're up to your eyeballs in some Ancient thingamabob," Cam said with a smirk. "You sure you're all right, Jackson?"

Startled again, Daniel looked to his left to see Vala staring at him with large eyes. Cam was across from her, next to Sam. Looking about the mess hall, he was confused. "How did I get here?" he whispered.

"Now I'm insulted," Vala said with a bit of a pout. "I've been telling you about…" She paused, then stared at him again. "You _followed_ me to the mess hall, Daniel. Wondered why you let me hang on to your arm, but I never thought it was because you weren't paying attention."

Seeing the look of confusion on his face, Sam reached across the table to place her hand on his forearm. "Daniel?" Glancing at Cam for a moment, she frowned. "All right. It's time to get you to the infirmary."

"I'm fine," Daniel protested quietly. "It's just a dream." He did his best to ignore the situation by focussing on his breakfast.

"Like the dream you had that led us to Merlin?" Vala asked. "_Please_ tell me it's treasure this time. That last one led us on a merry chase that went nowhere."

When he didn't rise to the bait, all three of them knew something was wrong. "That's it," Cam said, standing up with Sam. "You're going to see the Doc, even if we have to drag you."

* * *

Several hours and more pokes and prods later, Daniel was sitting on one of the beds in the infirmary, letting his legs dangle off the side. His arms were crossed, and he wasn't paying attention to what was going on around him. All of his attention was on the images and symbols from the dream.

"Now I _know_ something's wrong," Cam said. "Usually, he's fit to bust wanting out of here."

"Too much confusion," Daniel muttered, causing Sam and Cam to turn and look at him.

Dr. Carolyn Lam entered the room, carrying a clipboard. Stopping in front of Sam and Cam, she shook her head. "Well, none of the tests came back positive, but his EEG was a bit unusual."

"How so?" Cam asked.

She sighed and looked up at them. "It's normal, but more active."

Cam looked over her shoulder to read the clipboard. "What, is he thinking too hard or something?"

"You're guess is as good as mine," Dr. Lam replied as she flipped the pages back. "This is his previous EEG, and it's normal." She flipped the pages. "This is his current, and it isn't unusual except that it's more involved."

"Hyper awareness?" Sam asked. "But if he's more aware, why is he so non responsive?"

"Because I'm trying to _think_, dammit," Daniel said, startling them. They were across the room and talking quietly.

Vala, who was sitting on the other bed with her arms around one of her knees, reared her head back. "I didn't say anything."

Daniel stood up abruptly, looking around. "I need a book."

"What book?" Vala asked.

"Dictionary," Daniel said absently, heading for the exit.

He was blocked by Dr. Lam and the others. "Hey now, sparky. She hasn't released you yet," Cam complained.

Looking sharply at the doctor, he snapped at her. "Did you find anything wrong?"

"Well, no…" she started to say.

"Thank you," Daniel said, shoving past them. "There must be some way out of here," he mumbled as he left.

Knowing the look on his face, Sam patted the doctor's shoulder. "Thanks. We'll bring him back if something turns up." Turning, she and Cam followed him out.

Vala stood up from the bed and held her arms up, completely exasperated. "_What_ is going on?" Pout in force, she stomped her way out of the infirmary after them.

Dr. Lam simply shook her head and went to add the current set of tests to Daniel's medical file.

* * *

The team found Daniel in his office, going through his small library. "What are you after, Jackson?" He didn't respond, so Cam spoke louder. "Jackson! What are you looking for?"

Glancing up from his search, Daniel's face was rather blank. "English Greek Dictionary." After he explained, he continued his search.

The others looked at each other, confused. "I thought you spoke Greek, Daniel?" Sam asked.

"I do," he replied, finally locating the book in question. "I have the syntax down, but the rest… The dream had a lot of unrelated script in part of it, and I'm verifying the alphabet."

"Okay," Vala said slowly, plopping herself on his desk. "What does this have to do with the treasure?"

"There is no treasure," Daniel said irritably. "The man in the dream called me Epta, which is Greek for the number seven."

"Did you recognize him?" Sam asked.

He shook his head. "Only in the dream. He called me Seven like it was my name, then distracted me."

"From what?" Cam asked.

"The knife he stabbed me in the back with," Daniel muttered angrily.

"He _literally_ stabbed you in the back?" Cam asked. "Ouch. So, _not_ a nice guy," he reasoned.

"Up till that point he was," Daniel said, shaking his head. "Usually ends with the knife coming around to my throat, but it didn't this time."

"So you've had this dream before." Vala stated, rather than asked, her tone a bit more serious. "I've had recurring dreams of my time as host for Qetesh, and those are _never_ pretty."

Daniel looked up at her in sympathy. "Yeah, but I've had this dream off and on all my life. It always ends with the knife at my throat."

"But it didn't this time," Sam prodded gently.

"No," Daniel replied. "This time I fell to the floor, looking up at him. Tried to ask him why, but my throat was cut. He must've read my lips or something, because he said 'She's mine'."

"Fight over a woman?" Vala asked, her eyebrows up. "I didn't know you had it in you. So if I flirt with Muscles, will you fight him?"

"Wasn't like that," Daniel said with a frown. "And those _were_ Greek letters I saw. Just more stylized." He sat in his chair, looking completely confused. "The next part didn't make any sense at all."

They kept quiet for a bit, then Vala nudged him. "Daniel…"

"After feeling the life literally bleed out of me, there was this reddish light. Amongst it was…" he paused, looking up at the other two. "You saw _The Matrix_, right?" When they nodded, he continued. "Remember how they depicted it with the scrolling green mix of English and Japanese text?" They nodded again. "This was like that, only it didn't fall like rain. The letters were Greek and in a sort of grid, changing all the time. Felt like I was falling, then was pulled to my right, like being in a lake only to slip into a stream that runs away from it.

"Next thing I know, I'm all wet and sticky, choking for air. That man was there again, and a robot pulled me out of a tub of some sort of gel. I could tell I was younger, because my hands were so small."

There was a beat of silence, then Cam spoke up. "Damn, Jackson. That beats that bunny dream of mine. So… What's it all mean?"

"I have no idea," Daniel said slowly, shaking his head.


	2. Auditory Hallucinations

_**"Numbers"  
**__Chapter Two  
- Auditory Hallucinations -_

* * *

_**A/N:** I don't own squat, except what I write._

* * *

Fortunately, _or unfortunately – depending how you looked at it, _SG-1 was on stand down.

Teal'c was currently off world, having been recalled by Master Bra'tac for more negotiations with the fledgling Free Jaffa Nation. After the Ori, the only thing they had to worry about was the Lucien Alliance. Still, inter-politics were a logistical nightmare, and it was hoped that the legend surrounding Teal'c would serve to unite factions.

As for the rest of SG-1, Cam, Sam and Vala were doing their best to watch out for Daniel. His fugue earlier in the morning, and the dream he told them about had them wary. To Sam, Daniel was starting to act like Jack did when he had the Repository downloaded into his brain. Only, instead of doing things without knowing what he was doing, _not to mention speaking Ancient_, Daniel had a mad on in figuring out what was going on in his head.

Two levels down from the Gate Room sat the newly fabricated Asgard computer core, and Daniel had appropriated it later that morning. With Sam as a watch guard over the technology, she helped him scan the English to Greek dictionary into the system; then stood back while he played with the language at the holographic interface.

Twice, she caught him simply resting his hands on the console in frustration. Each time she had to remind him how the manual controls worked. The second time seemed to stick, but she did hear him mumble something that sounded like a subdued swear. _"Frakking thing should just work,"_ he muttered angrily. _"Why didn't they implement a mnemonic palm interface?"_

"What's a mnemonic palm interface?" Sam asked him. Honestly the thought sounded intriguing, if a little scary. Although, how one would get something that she translated into 'thought control' through the hands to work, she had absolutely no idea. _Wouldn't that involve some sort of helmet?_ She thought to herself.

Daniel looked at her like she had two heads. "How should I know?" he snapped. "Mnemonic. That has to do with memory, right?"

"Riiight," she replied. Stepping up to him, she placed a hand on his shoulder. "Daniel, you're the one that brought it up."

"No I didn't," he frowned. "Did I?"

Sam nodded at him sadly. "Yes, you did."

Daniel's face went slack. "This must be how Jack felt," he mumbled. "Sorry, Sam. I didn't mean to snap at you. I just need to… go through this dictionary and have it make sense."

"Why doesn't it make sense?" Sam asked.

He looked at her. "There are several symbols missing. I…" he paused, slumping his shoulders in realization. "I am such an idiot. We scanned _Modern_ Greek. Ancient Greek has six other symbols, not to mention the regional variants."

His hands flew over the controls, moving the mouse like devices all over the manual interface in what Sam would say was a bit of a blur. "Uhh… Daniel?"

"Just interfacing with the database at the Ionian University in Greece. Should be able to… _Yes_! Downloaded their complete language archives. Now to compile them into a semblance of order. Maybe I can reconstruct the root language from the various dialects? Well, I'm hopeful at least."

Sam was alarmed now, and she gaped at him with wide eyes. "Daniel, we haven't had the chance to hook this up to the internet yet. _How_ did you do that?"

His hands came up off the controls as his brain froze. "Uhhh… You _sure_? Because it was rather easy."

Standing shoulder to shoulder with him now, Sam pointed at the controls. "Walk me through what you just did."

"I - I - I - I _can't_," he stuttered. Turning his head to look at her, he was just as freaked out as she was. "I wouldn't even know where to _start_."

Brow creasing, she eyed him from the side. "Well, how did you link it to the net? The other computer core is behind firewalls and a hell of a lot of encryption."

"That? Oh, I just fed a wireless relay to one of the satellites and bounced the signal through the…" his mouth came to a complete stop as he realized what he was saying. "Sam?" he asked quietly. "I'm in trouble, aren't I?"

"You've got me worried," she admitted. "Computers are my thing, and you're stepping on my toes a bit," she grinned.

Recognizing the fact that she was trying to make him feel better, he snorted. "I am _never_ going to harass Jack about that Repository again." He paused, looking confused. "What was I doing?"

"Sounded like you were rewriting the Greek Dictionary," Sam deadpanned.

"Right," he nodded. Tapping three separate controls, he turned to the holographic interface.

Sam stepped back a bit to watch him work. Whatever was happening to him wasn't harmful yet, but the fact that he was speaking without conscious control only added to the worry. Crossing her arms, she turned to look at Cam standing by the door. His expression matched hers.

"Could somebody turn down the radio? That music is distracting," Daniel complained.

"Jackson, there isn't a radio down here," Cam said quietly.

Daniels hands paused, and he looked over at him with a frown. "You sure? Can _swear_ I'm hearing a sitar playing. It's actually kinda pretty, but… Oh well." Shrugging, he turned back to the Grecian letters on the holo display.

Sam and Cam exchanged pensive looks, both hoping that whatever was happening to their friend would resolve itself soon.

* * *

In the night sky – between Rigel of the constellation Orion, Eri of the constellation Eridanus, and the Witch Head nebula – an interstellar drama was unfolding barely nine light years from Earth.

On the flight deck of the Battlestar Galactica, the Three known as D'Anna stepped down from the Raptor. Giving significant looks towards Colonel Tigh, Tory Foster, Samuel Anders and Galen Tyrol, she announced to the acting President of the Colonies – Lee Adama – of her intent to keep Laura Roslin and the rest of the humans aboard her baseship hostage, until the Colonials let the four 'unknown' Cylons go.

After a small argument, Tory Foster was allowed to go to the baseship so she could deliver Laura's medication and stand at her side.

In transit to the baseship, D'Anna turned to Tory. "I am so glad we found you, but why were the others reluctant? Father Saul even tried preventing you from coming. Do you know why?"

The Six and Eight turned from the cockpit to look at her, which made Tory nervous. "We've only had a few months to come to terms with what's happened. We didn't know who we were until the Ionian Nebula. They need time."

"That doesn't make any sense," the Six said. "Why would you block your own memories?"

"Maybe they didn't have a choice," Eight said.

"I don't know," Tory said, "and we _still_ don't remember what happened, or why we were switched on when we were. All I'm sure about, is that Colonel Tigh _still_ hates the rest of you. Sam is on the fence, but Galen seems to have done a complete one eighty. We're _all_ angry. I mean, come on. We led the resistance on New Caprica, for fraks sake!"

"We need to make plans as soon as we're aboard," D'Anna said, running through various scenarios in her mind. "Once we disembark, have one of the Two's join us on the bridge. This is going to get a bit messy."

"Leoben is already there," Eight reminded her. More softly, she murmured, "We want Athena back."

"I know," D'Anna nodded, "but she made her choice. Just as Boomer made hers. All we need to focus on now, is getting our fathers by _any_ means necessary."

"That's the second time you've used that word," Six said. "What do you mean by that?"

D'Anna smiled warmly at Tory, running her fingers through her hair. "The final five are our model's creators. They're our _parents_, and we have to protect them at all costs."

* * *

Over the course of the day, Daniel stood at the Asgard Holographic Interface, doing his best to backtrack a language into what he briefly heard in his dream. He barely acknowledged the others with more than a few grunts, or a single sentence. Vala had brought in lunch, so Cam took it upon himself to bring dinner.

"How's our boy doing?" Cam asked, handing out some sandwiches.

Vala was in a full pout. "Few grumbles here and there. I even tried offering oral coitus, but he wont stop what he's doing. He actually _glared_ at me," she said with wide eyes.

Startled, Cam stared at her. "More than I wanted to know."

Sam snorted as her cheeks flushed. "You really need to learn to be a bit more discreet, Vala."

"I want him!" Vala protested. "I have _never_ had such a difficult time in trying to convince someone of _anything_ before. Am I not pretty?"

"Nai, eísai. Aplá prépei na gnorízoun an ennoeíte pragmatiká," Daniel said quietly. "Den eímai proetoimasménos na afiso ton eaftó mou na pligotheí xaná, Vála."

"What did he say?" Vala said, completely startled. "Daniel, I demand you speak to me properly!"

"Tha to káno, an thélete," Daniel said with a smirk.

Cam looked at Sam. "Carter, has he gone native?"

"I can speak English just fine," Daniel said with an outright smile on his face. "I just chose not too."

"You … _Wonko_!" Vala stuttered, completely exasperated. Throwing her hands up, she headed for the door. "I don't have to put up with this."

It was quiet for a moment, before Cam couldn't hold it in any more. His snickers got Sam started, which got him to laugh out loud. "Damn, Jackson! Strike one for the win column for you! Wondered how long it'd take before you started fighting back."

"She just has to stop the games and cons," Daniel said. "If she does that and means it, she _might_ have a chance."

"Really?" Sam blurted.

Daniel nodded, then put a hand to his temple. "Okay, I'm _really_ not liking this music now. It's getting too loud to ignore any more. Least I'm done with this." The other two came over to see what he came up with.

On the screen was a single sentence. _'Óla aftá synévisan prin, kai óla tha symvoún kai páli.'_

Cam blinked. "And what does that mean?"

Daniel flicked a triangle in the lower corner upside down, and the sentence changed to, _'All of this happened before, and it will all happen again.'_

"Wow," Cam blurted. "You're just _oozing_ with the cryptic today, Jackson."

"What's it mean?" Sam asked.

Daniel shrugged. "Not sure. That was just one phrase that the papers had on the table in that dream. The one that really made me take notice was this one."

He scooted the words on the screen to the left with a gesture, and a new paragraph slid in from the right already translated.

_'The thirteen tribes of man will reunite at the journey's end. The four makers will save the fractured four souls, and find the lost soul of the dreamer. Among the three dark fractures, they will find the four lost pieces. Beware the returning of the lost eighth. End of line.'_

"And the creepy just gets creepier," Cam deadpanned. "Seriously though? End of line? That's like straight out of Tron. We up against the MCP or something?"

"Something," Daniel said with a shrug. His eyes were watering now from the volume of the music he was hearing. "_Please_ stop," he whispered.

"Daniel?" Sam said, turning to look at him.

Both hands at his temples now, Daniel grunted then yelled out in pain. Bending at the waist, he tried to pull himself into a ball.

"Daniel!" Sam bent down and took him by the shoulders. He shrugged her off rather hard with an elbow, and she ended up on her butt against the Asgard Core.

Cam knelt down in front of him. "C'mon Jackson, let's get you to the inf…"

"GET _OFF_ ME!" Daniel screamed as he pushed out with his left hand, throwing Cam backwards against the far wall.

Sam reached the comm on the wall. "Medical team to the Asgard Core Room! We need sedatives! Maybe a Zat!"

"Or an elephant gun," Cam grunted as he tried to pull himself up off the floor.

* * *

Galen went back slightly as he heard the music again. Ignoring everything else, he left the flight deck.

Anders was in the back of the Pilot Ready Room when he heard it. Looking at his wife at the podium, he slipped out the back.

In the CIC, Colonel Tigh's head snapped to the left, then he looked around in a bit of a panic. "Dualla, you have the conn," he said as he left.

On the baseship, Tory swayed and fell backwards. Leoben caught her. "What's wrong?"

"I'm hearing it _again_," Tory breathed out, doing her best not to vomit like she did the last time.

* * *

In the core room, it took a blast from a Zat _and_ four guys to hold Daniel down, before they were able to get the sedatives in him. As they wheeled him away on the gurney, Sam helped Cam along behind them.

"Carter, is it just me, or can he really bench press a truck?" Cam complained.

Half carrying him along, Sam rubbed her bruised ribs. "I don't know, but I don't like it. I'm going to _rip_ Lam a new one. She could've caught this."

"Easy, Carter," Cam complained. "Ease up on the grip, would ya?"

She immediately relaxed the vice grip she had around his waist. "Sorry. I just can't _stand_ seeing him like this. We don't even know what's wrong, and there are no more Asgard to help this time."

Cam looked at her. "You think it's that bad?"

"You think it's _not_?" she shot back.

Unseen by all in the core room, an exotic looking raven haired woman in a black dress stood with both of her hands over her mouth. Tears were streaking down her face. "Oh, it'll be over soon. I promise," she whispered.

* * *

_Daniel's Spoken Translations: _

"_Yes, you are. I just need to know if you actually mean it. I'm not prepared to let myself be hurt again, Vala."_

"_I will if you will."_


	3. Who Am I?

_**"Numbers"  
**__Chapter Three  
- Who Am I? -_

* * *

_**A/N:** I don't own squat, except what I write._

* * *

Daniel had been sequestered in the isolation room. Even sedated, he looked to be in pain. Sticky pads were on his forehead, with leads running to an EEG monitor. Leads also ran from his chest, and a pulse monitor was clamped on his finger. Two separate monitors showed the readouts: One for his pulse and respiration, the other for his brainwaves.

SG-1 was in the observation room. Colonel Mitchell was leaning against the wall, with his arms crossed and quietly tapping his foot. Colonel Carter was sitting at the desk, fretting with her fingers and watching the sporadic waves of the EEG. Vala was next to her, leaning on her elbows and gripping her pony tails, rocking slightly in her chair.

"I shouldn't have left," Vala whispered. "Something _always_ happens when I leave."

Turning to her, Sam realised that Vala had tears running down her face. "Hey, _hey_ now. This isn't your fault."

"Five years. You'd think I would've learned by now," Vala hissed, wiping her eyes. "I leave, things _explode_."

"Vala, this has nothing to do with that," Cam said quietly. "All that would've happened, would be you meeting a wall up close. Trust me." Even though he had three cracked ribs and couldn't find a comfortable position to get himself into, he needed to be here for his team. _Man down, and another an emotional wreck. Good thing we're in the middle of breaking up,_ he thought to himself. _The fraternization rules would've blown everything sky high._

"I haven't even told him I _love_ him!" Vala shouted. With that emotional outburst, she broke down in subdued sobs. Sam slid her chair over and wrapped her up in a hug from the side.

* * *

Daniel opened his eyes to see the sun filtered through a canvas tent. The scent of some sweet smelling stew filled the place. Testing his mouth, he smacked his lips as he rolled to the side. Instead of Sha're, he saw Major Satterfield in Abydonian robes, stirring the pot.

Confused now, he sat up abruptly. "Major?"

"Morning, Daniel," she said with a smile. "Sorry I haven't been there for you, sir."

Rubbing his eyes, he realised he wasn't wearing his glasses. He made to look for them, then discovered that he could see perfectly. "Okay. I'm either dead again, or this is a _really_ frakked up dream."

"Frakked, huh?" Satterfield smirked. "You're not dead and you're not dreaming, if that helps."

Given conflicting reports, he was confused. "Well, I know for a fact the animals that supplied that stew are now extinct, so… what is this place?"

"Stole a bit of time so we could finally talk," she said with a smile. "Oma says 'Hi' by the way, but she's been unavoidably and infinitely detained."

Daniel blinked. "You're not Major Satterfield."

She shook her head. "I'm the original that looks like this, just as you're the original that looks like you."

He frowned. "I don't understand."

"The one you know as Major Satterfield is your friend, and will _always_ be your friend. You need to remember that."

"Ohhhkay?"

"Eat," she said, handing him a bowl. She grinned at the blissful look on his face as he took a spoonful. "Glad you like it. Do you remember what you translated an hour ago?"

He swallowed. "Which part?"

"Both."

"Yeah. The first one sounds like a repeating time loop of some sort, but the other didn't make much sense."

"It will when you have the proper context," she said. "I'm really sorry that hurt you. It couldn't be avoided."

"What _was_ that?" he asked, forgetting his stew.

"The Call," she grinned. "Funny thing about that. There have been several musicians who thought it was an inspired song. Three, so far. One for each planet, I suppose."

"I think I prefer Jimi Hendrix's version the best," she said, looking up to the support pole that held the tent up. "Has a bit more… _oopmh_ to it."

"I am _so_ not following you," Daniel said.

Smiling wider, she reached over and pulled a 60's style portable radio out from a bag. Flipping the switch, Hendrix's version of _'All Along the Watchtower'_ started playing.

Listening for a bit, the lyrics came out and his eyes widened. "_That's_ what I've been hearing? It's different, but that's the song that damn near gave me an aneurysm!"

"Sorry about that," she said with a pained frown. "It wasn't my idea, but it was the only way to get their attention, and break through your code wall."

Dealing with ascended beings is a test of patience. Sighing at the round robin way of getting information, he tried again. "Okay, I'll bite. Whose attention?"

"Your parents, of course." Her grin was a playful smirk.

He frowned. "That's not funny."

Her eyebrows shot up. "Oh! No! Not your adoptive parents, your _real_ parents. I keep forgetting that they blocked your memories when you went back." Frowning, she moved to sit next to him on the cot. "Okay, this will be a shock, _again_, but try not to panic. Okay?"

His only response was a raised eyebrow.

"Right," she sighed. "Okay. You have seven brothers and sisters, of which, I'm your only baby sister." She pursed her lips. "I'm _everyone's_ baby sister, but I'm getting off track."

"We don't look related," Daniel pointed out. "I look European, while you look like you could come from North or South Korea."

"Genetic diversity," she said with a shrug. "It's what they wanted, to remind them of Terra."

"Terra?"

She looked at him. "You know. You've been there. PYK-498?" Seeing the blank look on his face, she explained. "The rad hot planet you went to last year. Had to beam down in radiation suits."

Blinking, he thought back to that mission on the Hammond. Off the grid without a stargate, there wasn't a single living thing on the planet even though it orbited within the green belt of its parent star. Geological surveys showed it to have suffered a nuclear holocaust approximately two thousand years ago. The most notable thing about it was the evidence of a highly advanced society that actually had robotics.

"We never could figure out what caused that," he mused. "I mean, it's _obvious_ what happened, but there were no surviving records to show who or what fired the first shot, or anything else about their culture."

"The Cylons did," she said sadly. "The robotic version, at least. They were cybernetic life forms. You'd call them artificial intelligences with robotic bodies. Robotic as opposed to Android. They rebelled against their masters and nuked the entire planet."

"All this has happened before," Daniel mumbled.

She smiled. "Doesn't have to happen again though. Earth has learned what could happen from dealing with the Replicators. With all the help you've been given by the Asgard, I highly doubt that Earth will have similar problems."

"I'm sorry, but what is your name?"

She smiled at him. "Most would call me Eight, but my given name is Vanessa."

Daniel grinned. "Butterfly?"

"Judge?" she countered.

"Touché," he smiled. "So, how are you my little sister? How does that work, exactly?"

"There were five survivors from Terra, who were descended from the servants of Kobol."

"Servants of?" he looked at her. "Like the Cylons?"

She nodded. "The Cylons _were_ the servants of Kobol. Initially mechanical, they eventually evolved to become biological."

"Bio…" he stuttered. "Like humans?"

She smirked. "In every way, save for some creative license with silica neurons and dense muscle fibers. You've seen it before with the Asgard. They were the end result of over cloning. Thor says 'Hi' by the way."

Daniel blinked as all the different tidbits of information coalesced into something _outrageous_. Still though, he had an overwhelming sense of deja-vu. So, he had to have heard this before. Frowning, he stared at his sandalled feet as he tried to push through the wall the Ascended put up in his mind.

"Easy," Vanessa said, putting her hand on his shoulder. "Don't force it. You wont be able to get through that wall. Not entirely. That's not the wall you need to be focussing on anyway. You need to pay attention to that dream you had, that started you on this roller coaster."

"It's a memory, isn't it?"

She nodded. "His name is John, the First. One. Cavil. Levi."

Pain lanced through his head as the combination of names proved to be the key to a very elaborate lock in his mind. He felt Vanessa grab a hold of him from the side, but couldn't process what she was saying. His hands gripped his hair rather violently, as five years worth of memories played out in front of him in rapid succession.

Sam, Tory, Galen, Saul and Ellen were his _parents_. All five of them contributed to his existence. Even still, Sam, Galen and Tory were more like uncles and an aunt. Saul and Ellen though…

He remembered them all, but especially Mother Ellen; how she would smile at him when he made something for her; her stories of growing up on Earth (Terra) with her parents; the abrupt click of awareness when he realised he could _think_.

His siblings: Vanessa, Adara, Alek, Solon, Dawn, Leo… and _John_.

He was beyond thought when he realised what John did to him. The only thing that he could feel at that moment was black wrath. John killed him because he was _jealous_! In another context, this made Daniel _Able_ to John's _Caine_.

Vanessa held on to him while he screamed and sobbed. It seemed to be endless, but as she said: She stole time for this. Eventually, he was able to hear her tell him that she loved him. She had been repeating it for effective years while he went back and forth between wrath and grief. Wrath for wanting revenge, and grief for the loss of his first friend. Eventually though, the emotions were spent and he felt absolutely numb.

After a more than lengthy span of silence between them, he sighed. "I guess I have to wake up now. Did I go through this the first time?"

Vanessa nodded while she wiped his face. "It was worse than when you went up against Anubis. It took all of us to help you through your grief and rage. Just remember. It wasn't your fault. Try not to go down the path of vengeance."

"If you say 'Consume you it will' I'll slap you." He smiled at her laughter, then finally turned to hug his baby sister. "How many of you are out there?"

She sighed into his shoulder. "I haven't counted, but not nearly as many as it was before the civil war."

Daniel pulled back to stare at her. "Should you be telling me this?"

"We owe you," she nodded. "The copies of John, Solon and Alek are against the rest. Actually, one of the Adara's and mine staged a rebellion. They convinced the Leo's to join them."

"What about Dawn?"

"John had her entire line Boxed, since she saw through the code wall to see our parent's faces," she said sadly. "But, he did bring out the original in the hope that she would vote with him."

She paused and grinned at him. "She didn't, and is with the others. They're having a bit of 'to do' with the remnants of the Twelve Tribes about nine light years out. They'll be in the system shortly though."

"What do I need to do?" Daniel asked, feeling as if he needed to run out _right frakking now._

"As soon as you're awake, you need to get in touch with Major Satterfield," she said. "Ask her point blank if she will follow John or you. She was sent here to be your 'minder'."

"Minder?"

"She was to keep tabs on you when you came of age, but time got a bit away from her." Grinning, Vanessa bumped shoulders with him. "She likes it here. She's the only one beside the John copies that knows you exist right now."

"Followed in my footsteps," Daniel mused.

"I'll always follow you, Danny," she grinned. "Time to wake up now, though. Will you remember?"

He nodded. "Yes."

"Then wake up," she said gently, before snapping her fingers in his face.

* * *

Sam was wiping Vala's face, when there was a loud beeping coming from the isolation room. Looking over, Sam could see that the mass of brainwaves spiked suddenly, then decreased to a more normal level.

She almost wet herself when Daniel abruptly sat up in the bed. Scrambling for the microphone, Sam clicked it. "Daniel? Don't move! You've had a seizure."

Cam was on the phone with Dr. Lam already, and Vala's chair was empty and overturned. Sam saw the door to the isolation ward open, and clicked the microphone again. "Vala! _Stop_!"

Turning to the observation window, Vala pointed at Sam. "You shut it!" Stepping to the side of the bed, she swallowed. "Daniel. I promise to never con, manipulate, swindle, cheat, or anything else you can think of to get one over on a person for profit, if you promise me one. single. thing."

Just the sight of Vala red faced and in tears had Daniel completely floored. Blinking, he stared at her. "What's that?"

"_NEVER DO THAT TO ME AGAIN_!" she yelled at him at the top of her lungs, before reaching behind his neck to plant one on him.

Freezing completely, Daniel wasn't sure what to make of this. However, he heard Vanessa whispering in his ear. _'She means it. You really scared her. Don't fight this, please? You deserve to be happy.'_

With that bit of insightful wisdom, Daniel Jackson finally let his guard down around Vala Mal Doran, and kissed her _back_.

_'Bout time, you two,'_ Cam said over the intercom a few minutes later. _'But, you might want to break that up before Dr. Lam gets here. She'll get all twitchy.'_

Vala broke the kiss and rested her forehead against his. She smiled when she heard him say, "I promise."

At that moment, Dr. Lam and two nurses entered the room. Vala stood and backed away to let them do their work. "I'll hold you to it, my Daniel."

While they checked him over, Daniel went over different scenarios on how to tell them what happened. Realizing that honesty was best, _albeit in small steps_, he spoke up. "Colonel Carter, Colonel Mitchell, can you come in here please? It's important."

_'I'd rather stay on this side of the glass while they're doing their jobs, if it's all the same to you,' _Cam said over the intercom. _'Unlike Vala, I have a healthy respect for those that stick me with needles.'_

Sighing, Daniel rolled his eyes. "Fine. Do me a favour though, and locate Major Satterfield. If she's not on the base, get her here ASAP. This has to do with those translations I did today, and she needs to be here to see them."

"Why her?" Vala asked.

He grinned at her while Lam was checking his reflexes. "She knows the specific dialect that I compiled today, and can verify the translations." He paused to look up at Cam through the window. "Just in case there were any doubts," he smirked.

"We're on it," Sam said, dragging Cam after her out the door.

Daniel was distracted by a penlight in his eye. "Is that _really_ necessary? I don't have a concussion."

"You _will_ if you don't sit still," Lam snarked. "Now, how many fingers am I holding up?"


	4. Who Are You?

_**"Numbers"  
**__Chapter Four  
- Who Are You? -_

* * *

_**A/N:** I don't own squat, except what I write._

_Special thanks to Nedy Rahn for pointing things out to me that have greatly enhanced this story._

_For the record, this is set in the year 2012; three years after Atlantis left the screen; one year after Universe. So, Atlantis is in the Sol System, and the Destiny has been set to sleep to get past those drones. _

_I don't read the comics or the books, so not everything will match up with that. Sorry._

* * *

It was nearly an hour later when Daniel reached his limit. Wasn't past it yet, but Dr. Lam was quite literally on his last nerve. Taking a deep breath, he forced himself to be polite. "Dr. Lam… Carolyn… Have you found any sort of imbalance pertaining to anything concerning my medical status?"

"Oh, no you don't, Daniel," Lam scowled. "You do _not_ patronize the CMO."

He laid out another heavy sigh. "I'm not patronizing you, doctor. And, you haven't answered my question."

"That's completely besides the point!" she argued with wide eyes. "You had a _seizure_; we all saw you in _excruciating_ pain; and it took four people, a Zat gun, and one hundred millilitres of pentobarbital just to knock you out!"

"And all of which I'm deeply grateful for, doctor, because that completely sucked," Daniel said in his most diplomatic tone. "Listen. Let's compromise…"

She shook her head. "No compromises in my infirmary, Doctor Jackson. You _know_ this."

"I have to give a briefing on what…" he trailed off, thinking about it. "Tell you what. If you can get your nurses and other doctors without clearance out of the infirmary while we have the meeting here, that's fine," he paused, noting her reaction. "Or, you can accompany me to the briefing room to make sure I don't trip and bust my head open, or whatever else you may be thinking might explode on my person."

Dr. Lam just looked at him, completely inscrutable. Blinking once, she pointed at something with a look at the head nurse – who rolled the wheelchair over. "Fine," she said at last.

* * *

When the door opened to the briefing room, Daniel saw General Landry, who had a few weeks left in his tour here before Carter took over; SG-1 minus Teal'c, (he hoped he was all right); and Major Satterfield, leader of SG-3. They all turned their eyes towards him as he was wheeled in by Dr. Lam.

"Damn, Jackson. I thought you said you were all right?" Mitchell complained with a bit of a smirk.

Daniel just thumbed over his shoulder. "Mother bear. What ya gonna do?" he said with a shrug and a sheepish grin. Pushed into a newly vacated space, he grinned at the Major – who was giving him the eyebrow.

There was a moment of settling in, and Landry spoke up in his usual candour. "Doctor Jackson, as they say, this is your party."

"Before we begin, I request that we be placed in electronic lockdown," Daniel said quietly, startling everyone.

There was a look of concern on the General's face, but he nodded. As he got up to activate the lockdown, the others looked at Daniel as if he suddenly grew a second head. There was a click from the General's office, and the blast door to the gate room lowered. In addition to that, steel doors slid over the wooden ones to both the conference room and the external one to General's office. Lastly, a plate slid over the steps to the lower section. There was a pop as forcefields came into existence over those areas, as well as the ventilation shafts.

Once the General was seated again, he looked over at Jackson. "I do hope this is worth the suspense."

"Trust me, General. This is a game changer," Daniel replied, before looking to Sam. "Got the printouts?" She nodded and slid a manilla folder over to him. Opening it, he found the two translations and the two originals.

Taking a deep breath, he looked over to the Major. "Before we begin, I need the Major to look this over." Handing her the untranslated text, he waited. Seeing a slight widening of her eyes, she looked up at him.

"Don't say anything now, Valerie. I know you understand it, and believe me when I say that you are safe." He couldn't hold back his grin at the end of that, and this time she looked shocked. He simply nodded his head a bit with his grin, and was disappointed to see fear crawl over her face.

"As my grey hair overtakes the rest of my scalp, Doctor Jackson," the General said with a sigh.

"Sorry sir," he apologized. "Now, as you all know, the Asgard are a race of clones, who have cloned themselves over and over for thousands of years and ended up ending their own lives before they succumbed to their genetic spiral." Taking a breath, he continued. "There is another race of beings that I've recently become aware of that have a similar reproductive cycle."

Fed up with the chair, he stood and started pacing. Even though he knew this would infuriate the Doctor, he simply couldn't sit still while he lectured. Usually this involved explaining a theory to convince the General to commit to a mission. This was different in that he needed to convince him of the truth before it bit them all in the ass. So, not that much different, really.

Needless to say, he was nervous. The Major wasn't much better, but kept her outward appearance cool. Regardless, he was stuck on what to say next. Even though he didn't see her, he felt Vanessa's hand on his shoulder as she whispered in his ear. "You're doing good. Go with the flow and relax. These are your friends. Ease them into it with what they already know."

Nodding at the encouragement, he turned back to the table. "Doing math backwards through time, we all know about when the Goa'uld took humans from this world and seeded the galaxy with their acquired slaves. In a similar vein, the Asgard did the same when they thought that the Earth was going to undergo an extinction level event. And, we know that several of these colonies do not in fact have Stargates.

"Somewhere in between six to seven thousand years ago, a great number of people were taken from Earth by the Asgard to a planet known today as Kobol." It was an educated guess, but it seemed logical to him. "It's not in the SGC database of addresses, because it doesn't have a Stargate. Over time, these people grew in number and in technology. Even up to the development of A.I., otherwise known as artificial intelligence.

"These intelligences were known collectively as the Cylons, a subservient caste of sentience at the whims of the people who created them. While it wasn't slavery as such, when pertaining to living organisms, it was still slavery due to the fact that they were using a sentient and self aware intellect as their workforce and army. For a while this worked out fine, but over time the treatment of their robotic slaves became petulant and neglectful. Why worry about a CPU, when you can buy another one? All it takes is a few tweaks, and it'll be the same as the first one you lost."

He paused to looked them over. "You can see where I'm going with this," he stated.

Sam was the most disturbed, as she revelled in science. Not to mention the robot duplicates of themselves who went on missions long enough to bite it in the end. They were them in all but DNA, and they ended their lives to protect humans.

Mitchell had a thoughtful expression on his face, and Daniel assumed that he might be thinking about Teal'c.

Vala looked mortified. Having had her time in the thrall of a Goa'uld as a host, she knew full well what it was like.

Both the General and the Doctor were harder to read, but the Major was looking right at him with a pleading look on her face. He gave her a reassuring smile, and patted her shoulder before continuing.

"After a certain amount of time, the companies in charge of the Cylons discovered mnemonic memory transfer," Sam's head popped up at that. "This meant that for any body that was destroyed, the intelligence of the Cylon was transmitted back to a hub to be redistributed or inserted into a new body.

"After a century of war between the nations on the planet, the Cylons had enough and turned their guns on their own human commanders. Little surprise, but we have hindsight on this." _Not to mention a bit of experience, _he thought. "Much like the Jaffa rebellion, the Cylon rebellion threw the planet into chaos."

"Daniel," Sam started, but he held up his hand to stop whatever she was going to ask.

"Please hold all questions till I'm through. This is going to take a while." Pausing for breath, he poured himself a glass of water and drank half of it. Turning back to the table, he was off again. "Eventually, enough lives were lost and the use of WMD's of various types very nearly turned the planet into a cinder. An armistice of non aggression between the humans and cylons was signed, and they turned to what they could possibly do next.

"Back then, and in that region of space, the humans on Kobol did _not_ have faster than light travel. That said, the Cylons built what we would call a generational ship. This ship utilized the technology of the time, up to and including both the resurrection apparatus, as well as a chemical database of DNA from fallen humans in the war.

"Over a course of a couple of hundred years in flight, the Cylons perfected what they wanted most: the ability to breathe, taste, touch, and anything else you can think of that humans take for granted. While they didn't utilize this technology themselves until they found a planet to colonize, they were able to put several thousand cloned bodies into cold storage for use to download into once they arrived at a habitable planet.

"Now, while this was all going on. The twelve major powers of Kobol did the same exact thing. They built generational ships of their own, and left Kobol en-masse, heading towards the interior of the Galaxy, and coincidentally deeper into Asgard protected space. History differs at this point as to whether or not humans or cylons reached their planet first, but I'm sure it's in the Asgard database three flights down.

"For the Cylons, they found a relatively small system with one planet that was habitable. Naming it Terra, they downloaded themselves into the cloned bodies they had stored, after building their first settlement out of the parts and hull of their ship.

"For the Humans, they had it a bit better. They were able to find a relative gold mine of a land grab. A star system that was a double binary. Initially called the Helios system, the double pair orbited each other, as they orbited the central gravity well between the four stars. Multiple planets were habitable, and over time each of the original major powers of Kobol got their own planet to colonize."

"Sounds like a good deal," Cam commented. "Like having the United States and Canada having their own planet, right?"

Nodding, Daniel agreed. "Yeah, with maybe Britain and Australia. In that star system, what you just described would be the planet Caprica. But, lets not get ahead of ourselves. There's a lot more.

"On Terra, the Cylons were eventually able to procreate without the use of downloading. And, what may surprise most of you, they had no war for over a thousand years. However, they did something that they really shouldn't have. Any guesses?"

"A.I." Valerie said quietly, joining the discussion for the first time.

Nodding with a smile in her direction, Daniel continued. "Yep. They ended up doing what Kobal did. The only exception was, they didn't use their mechanical Cylons for war. That came much later. As their technology expanded, the Cylons did manual labour, construction and maintenance for their infrastructure. This was all fine, up until their robot workforce started demanding civil rights."

"I see a lead balloon in the near future," Cam quipped.

"The size of a Zeppelin," Sam nodded.

"Yep. That didn't go over too well with the authorities. In little to no time, strikes turned to violence. At the same time this was going on, five scientists were trying to recreate the resurrection technology that fell out of use when they were able to have babies. Now remember, the Cylons didn't have faster than light travel. They did however, keep up with their space technology and used it to mine their two moons. Using Cylons of course."

"Of course," the General said, looking a bit disgusted.

"This is where technology separated between Terra and the Twelve Colonies. While Terra didn't have a certain element, guess what the Twelve Colonies discovered in their dead planet rocks and asteroid fields?"

"Naquadah?" Cam said, unsure of himself.

Daniel tapped his own nose. "You got it. They had a process that would distil raw naquadah ore into a liquid form."

"Oh my God," Sam said. "We've been trying to do that for a while now. The potential energy contained in a simple litre of liquid would dwarf a block of naquadah the size of a double decker bus."

"Now I see why you wanted this closed," the General said.

"Not quite, General," Daniel said with a shake of the head. "Getting there though. At Terra, the Cylon riots got exponentially worse as the biologicals started arming themselves against the tougher mechanicals. In less than ten years, the biologicals discovered how to split the atom."

"Oh God," Doctor Lam said quietly. She was so engrossed into the story, that she completely forgot that Daniel was supposed to be taking it easy.

"Yeah. Not good," Daniel said. "Fortunately for a very minor few, the resurrection technology was remastered again. Out of five billion souls, both biological and mechanical, only five survived the nuclear holocaust. Unfortunately for the mechanicals, they didn't realize that they were susceptible to the hard radiation when they launched their attack."

"Wiped themselves out at the same time?" the General asked with a bit of sorrow on his face. "Damn shame. Forgive me for saying, but I'm not liking my own race at the moment. This reminds me of Nazism."

Daniel shook his head. "It wasn't that severe on Terra. It was a labour dispute that got way out of hand."

"Still though, five billion people," Cam said. "You know, I don't care if they're flesh or steel. They could think. I mean, replicators _eat_ everything and the humanoid models weren't that much better. I only read of one replicator that might have made it in society if General O'Niell hadn't screwed him over."

"Let's not talk about that," Sam said, annoyed at her own part in Fifth's betrayal.

"He has a point, Sam," Daniel said. "I know he had a thing for you, and he did unspeakable things while you were aboard his ship. But, I still wonder what would have happened if we actually took him with us from Orilla."

"We may never know," Sam said quietly.

The General broke the mood. "So what happened to those five scientists?"

"Well, while they didn't have FTL capability, they got darn close. Retracing their route, they returned to Kobol. While it was only a month for them, it was almost as long as it took them to reach Terra in real time. They didn't find much, as Kobol's ecosystem was still recovering, and that wasn't their destination anyway."

"What was it?" Vala asked.

"Like I said, these five were scientists and they knew that the other refugees from Kobol would delve into artificial intelligence again. Their intention was to follow their trail in order to warn them."

"I'm not liking where this is going, Jackson," Cam said. "If they were only able to go close to the speed of light without a lot of direction…" he trailed off.

"It took them two thousand actual years to find them, while it was only eight months of relative time. They were too late. The Greystone Corporation had developed their own Cylon on Caprica. Unlike the Terrans, the Colonials used them for war."

"You'd think they would've learned their lesson the first time!" Vala shouted.

Sam shook her head. "Think about the time difference. They probably forgot why they colonized those worlds to begin with."

"Doctor Colonel, you're still brilliant," Daniel grinned. "And no, Vala. It's sad to say, but it happened before, and it happened again."

That caught Sam and Cameron's attention and they both gaped at him, remembering what started his entire quest that morning.

Smiling, Daniel nodded. "You two are quick, but lets not jump to the end just yet." Changing gears, he drank the rest of his water to keep his throat wet. Feeling his eyes hurt, he pocketed his glasses and continued the briefing without them. Wasn't like he was reading anything anyway.

"Like I said, the Twelve Colonies had abundant resources of naquadah, or as they called it, 'tylium'. During the time that the five scientists traced their flightpath, scientists at the Twelve Colonies developed a style of FTL that will make all members of the military in this room drool.

"They call it the Jump Drive. Instead of shunting a ship into subspace, they actually fold space into a sort of wormhole not unlike the stargate. Instead of having to create a ring to fly through, the drive creates a bubble around the ship that literally jumps it from one point in space to another instantaneously. Not exactly sure on the range, but you could go from here to Alpha Centauri with a flick of a switch."

Sam sat back in her chair as equations ran through her mind at the implications. After a moment, she decided she would need to consult the Asgard Core, as it was giving her a headache.

In the lull, Valerie had a bit of new respect for Daniel. He'd not only explained most of their case, but had them sympathizing with them. Maybe she had a chance, still. "Daniel, what about the five scientists?"

"They entered the Helios system in the middle of a forty year long war between the humans and their own Cylons. They were able to access the Cylon communication frequencies, and arranged to meet the leaders. From what I understand, it was a hell of a get together. Over the course of two weeks, the scientists discovered that the Colonial Cylons were attempting to make their own biological models. I'm not going to go into what they discovered, because quite frankly I'd like to be able to have dinner tonight.

"What the scientists did, was demand a complete halt of all hostilities."

Cam's eyes bulged. "Just like that? What did they give them?"

Daniel grinned. "Resurrection technology, and a proper way to build biological models. The Colonial Cylons would only get that if they stopped the war and left the system." He paused and poured himself another drink.

"Don't leave us hanging, Daniel," Vala chastised. "What happened?"

"They agreed," he said simply with a grin.

"That's not the end of the story though, is it Daniel?" Sam asked with a knowing look on her face.

He nodded and sat in the chair that had been moved for the wheelchair. "The scientists immediately went to work on their biological replacements." He paused, blinking. "Their original plan was for twenty clone models, but things got away from them."

Valerie stared at him with wide eyes, and he simply nodded.

"The first one was named John. The lead scientist designed it to resemble her own father, and he was a fast learner. In less than six months, he was already helping them with the later models."

"Seems a bit quick to catch on that fast," Dr. Lam said. If these weren't bodies to be used by the mechanicals to download into, and I'm assuming they weren't from what you described…"

"They did," Daniel interrupted her. "However, with the differences in circuitry and configurations of their CPU's, only knowledge was transferred. They only realized this after the first ten John copies were uploaded. With the first being taught by simple mnemonic transfer, they had eleven John's with knowledge of war and little experience."

"Oh hell," Cam said. "Even _I_ know it's bad to give a kid a gun, but that sounds like handing a five year old a WMD."

"What happened?" Sam said, beginning to understand the dream he told them about with what was being said now.

"Things went fine for six years," Daniel said. "At that point they had eight model bases, with several copies of the earlier models already running around. However, the original John had a problem. He had a little brother that was getting all the attention from the lead scientist."

"Are you kidding me?" Vala said. "They had a six year old, with all sorts of knowledge on how to kill. And he got _jealous_?" she froze in place as she remembered what Daniel said about his dream. "Oh Daniel," she whispered, putting a hand to her mouth.

Seeing the others in the room react strangely to this story, the General was confused. "I have to ask this question. Where did you get this information from Doctor Jackson? There seems to be a bit more detail in this report that you're _not_ reading from."

"Don't send me back," Valerie pleaded in a whisper.

"I wont let them," Daniel replied just as quiet. Didn't matter though. The room was so silent you could hear a pin drop. He reached over and took her hand. "Ready?"

"No," she shook her head, "but I think it's a bit late now."

Standing up, Daniel pulled Valerie up with him. "General Landry, while it only came to my attention today, I feel that it's necessary to reintroduce ourselves. While I did grow up here from the age of five, and my name is Daniel, my other name is Seven. Major?"

She looked startled and swallowed nervously. "I was sent here originally to keep track of Daniel. I didn't know why at the time, and had no idea he was a Cylon, but I've come to love my life here and I don't want to leave." She paused to wipe her eyes. "Valerie is the name I chose for myself, but my other name is Eight."

General Landry just stared at them both, completely stunned.


	5. Earth

_**"Numbers"  
**__Chapter Five  
- Earth -_

* * *

_**A/N:** I don't own squat, except what I write._

* * *

In Adama's quarters aboard the Galactica, the Old Man felt his entire world turned upside down. His friend for over thirty years was a Cylon? He felt violated. He felt pure, intense rage. Everything in him was called into question as he turned his own quarters into a reflection of his chaotic mind. When everything was spent, he was a drunken and sobbing mess when his son found him.

* * *

The stunned silence in the briefing room was broken by the Major. Letting go of Daniel's hand, she looked at him. "One thing I don't understand. How did you figure out who I am? I mean, so what. You figured out how to read Geminese, but how did you make the leap to the fact that I'm a Cylon?"

Daniel just looked at her. "Valerie, what's my name?"

She arched her brow in confusion. "Dr. Daniel Jackson, archaeologist and linguist. The key to Earth reaching out to space, and the entire reason I'm here."

He shook his head. "That's not what I meant. Yes, I'm Daniel Jackson. But, what other name do I have?"

"I – I don't know?" she said, a bit confused.

Cam leaned forward. "He just _told_ us his name!"

Daniel held his hand up. "This is a Code Wall in progress."

"What?" the Major barked. "I don't have a Code Wall. What are you talking about?"

"What the devil is a Cold Wall?" Vala asked.

Looking over at them, Daniel explained. "Think of it as a computer firewall designed to induce selective amnesia."

"I don't have a Code Wall!" the Major protested.

Daniel looked her in the eye. "Valerie, do you have any sort of weapon on you? If so, please give them to either Sam or Cam."

Confused, she simply nodded and stuck her left foot up on the edge of the table. Unstrapping the knife on her leg, she slid it over to the other side of the table. "Okay, now what? My loyalty is to the SGC and Earth. I'll tell you whatever you want to know about Cylon defences."

"You need to sit down," Daniel said, guiding her to the chair that was away from the table. After she was seated, he turned to Dr. Lam. "Am I right in assuming that instantaneous recall of a suppressed memory is traumatic?"

"If it's a defensive subconscious block, then yes," she replied. "But, I'm not sure about what would happen if it was forced on someone."

"This is not going to be pretty, Daniel," Vanessa said. He turned his head slightly to see her leaning against the wall. He thought the cream dress was rather flattering on her.

Focussing on Valerie, he apologized. "I'm sorry, but this is going to hurt."

"How do you even _know_ about Code Walls?" she asked.

"Because I'm a Cylon," Daniel replied, startling her. The shock slid from her face into a mask of confusion. Looking to the others, he explained. "If the person with a Code Wall hears or sees information pertaining to the memory or knowledge that it's trying to suppress, the memory lasts up to thirty seconds before being shunted behind the Wall."

"The phrase is the same," Vanessa said. "He's so arrogant, that he didn't realize the danger."

Turning back to the Major, he waited till she looked him in the eye. "John, the First. One. Cavil. Levi."

Valerie grunted and slapped her hands to the sides of her head. Eyes wide, they began filling with tears as the memories were released. "God," she breathed. "Oh, _God_. He _killed_ you. Seven." She looked up and gasped. "_Daniel_!"

He caught her as she leapt out of the chair to hug him, and held her close as she started bawling. "Shh. It's all right. You're okay."

"I'm going to kill him!" she shouted as she drenched his shirt. "Then when he resurrects, I'll kill him again! That _Bastard_!"

"Major, do you need a moment?" the General asked. There was more to this, he knew, but more importantly was the fact that he had not one, but two infiltrators in his command. He dreaded the report to the IOA.

Valerie pulled away and wiped her eyes. "No, sir. I – I'll be fine. I just need to sit down." She accepted the glass of water from Sam with a small thanks, then rested her head in her hand.

"Doctor Jackson," the General said, getting the meeting back on track. "Would it be fair to assume that there are more out there that look like you?"

"No," Daniel and Valerie said at the same time.

"Me, yes, but not Daniel," Valerie said.

"And why is that?" the General asked.

"John made sure of it," Daniel said angrily. "It's like the story of Cain and Abel. But, rather than simply kill me outright, he went a step further and destroyed all of the DNA that was to be used for further cloning.

"And, rather than simply killing me, he had me download into the body of an incomplete clone. At that point, I really looked my age – which was five years old. Not sure what happened on how I got here, but it would be fair to say that he knows the location of Earth."

"He does," Valerie said. "It was a shock to me that there was an unknown Colony of Kobol, but after living here for several years… Well, after a few museums and whatnot, it was pretty clear that humanity evolved on this planet. Then I got accepted to the SGC and found out humans are _everywhere_. That's when I stopped reporting to him and threw myself into defending Earth."

"I'll ask the dumb question," Cam said. "If he already knows about Earth, why didn't he just nuke the planet when he had the chance, instead of just dropping you off?"

Valerie shrugged, and Daniel thought about it. "I think he was saving us for last. That, or he actually doesn't care about the place. I mean, he was downloaded from a Colonial Centurion. While the sentience wasn't passed on, every memory was. So, maybe he just hates the Colonies?"

"I wouldn't bet on that," Valerie said. "They were still years away from the attack when I was sent here."

"What attack?" the General asked.

"Well, you kinda had me jump to the end of the story," Daniel said with a shrug. "While I was unconscious, I had a conversation with one of the Ascended, who helped me overcome my own Code Wall. While I don't know what happened after John killed me and dropped me off here, I can tell you what she said about it.

"The Colonies were destroyed by the Cylons, and they've been chasing the remainder ever since."

"All right," the General nodded. "So, what does this have to do with the present?"

"The fleet of survivors is nine light years away, and they'll be in this system in…" he looked at his watch.

"Forty minutes," Vanessa said.

"… forty minutes," Daniel repeated. Seeing their looks of alarm, he nodded. "I would've told you that _first_, but I had to be sure you knew what the entire story was. That, and I didn't want you all to dump me and Satterfield on another planet or just shoot us."

"We would _never_ do that!" Sam shouted.

"The IOA might," Cam said.

"Over my dead body!" Vala shouted. "I'll take him to Chulak first!"

The General held his hands up. "People, please. We've got time. I have no doubt that special dispensation will be awarded to the both of you. Doctor Jackson, for the simple fact that he was _raised_ as an American, not to mention decoding the Stargate system; and while Major Satterfield will most likely have to go through channels, it's not like we haven't had people from another planet on our teams, even when their people are hostile."

Valerie looked over to the General. "Really?"

"I know I'm a soft touch, but stop with the doe eyes," the General complained. "May work for my daughter, but it wont work with you. So stop, before I go vomit in my waste basket and put you on report for making me sick."

Dr. Lam smirked and looked over at him. "So, _that's_ how I get my way around here. Good advice."

"Don't press your luck, Carolyn," he groused. "Might've been you I was talking about, or maybe it's your sister. Now, lets inform General O'Neill and the President that we're going to have some guests. I believe the Hammond and the Odyssey are still in the system, so let's get on the ball people."

"We need to be out there," Daniel said. "If anything else, we can act as interpreters until we fabricate some from the Asgard cores."

The General nodded. "I'll put your request in with both of them."

* * *

Lee Adama stood back in the CIC of the Galactica and watched as they prepared to make the final jump. He may have been demoted to Vice President with Roslin's return, but he was still light headed with everything that had happened.

"Fleet in jump position and standing by," Lt. Dualla said. "Board is green. Ship reports ready to jump, Admiral."

"Very well," Adama said. "Madam President, without you we wouldn't have made it. Give the order."

Roslin smiled and fought back a tear. "It's been a long time coming," she breathed. She shook her head to clear it and sighed. "Okay. Take us to Earth."

The sound of the jump engines spinning up filled the room, and Dualla was on the intercom with the entire fleet. "In five … four … three … two … one … Jump."

* * *

A bit beyond the orbit of Neptune, several flashes of light announced the arrival of the Colonial fleet and a single damaged Cylon baseship.

"Jump is complete," Dualla reported.

"DRADIS is clear," Gaeta said.

* * *

On the baseship, every Cylon heard the hybrid screaming. "Seven! Seven! Seven is in the stream! Seven is online! Seven! Seven!"

"That's impossible," D'Anna said on the bridge. Everyone was just as shocked as she was.

"He's on _Earth_?" Lida said. She was one of the more gentle versions of the Sixes, who had long, wavy, dark blond hair. "How?"

Leoben put his hands in the mnemonic interface. "We need verification."

* * *

"Nav," Adama said.

Gaeta looked over his shoulder, still appearing sickly from his recent amputation. "Confirming position."

Adama nodded. "Take your time. Get it right."

"Fleet all present and accounted for," Hoshi reported.

The apprehensive tension was thick with the battle between hope and fear. Adama projected his usual stoicism, while Roslin was a nervous wreck. Lee stepped up next to her in silent support.

Gaeta turned slowly in his chair with astonishment on his face. "Visible constellations are a match."

Only the sounds of the equipment could be heard, as everyone looked around at each other. Slowly, people began smiling and fighting their emotions with their professionalism.

Adama picked up his comm and queued all ships. The intercom bell toned and he said the words he thought he'd never have the chance to.

"Crew of Galactica; People of the fleet; This is Admiral Adama. Three years ago I promised to lead you to a new home. We've endured a difficult journey. We've all lost. We've all suffered. And the truth is, I questioned that this day would ever come. But today our journey is at an end. We have arrived – at Earth."

Placing the comm on the nav board, he left it open as he embraced Laura, and every ship heard the CIC erupt in cheers.

* * *

The Odyssey and the Hammond were joined in orbit by the Daedalus, which had just returned from a mission. General O'Neill was on the Odyssey with the rest of SG-1 and Major Satterfield.

Daniel stepped up to the General. "Thanks for letting us come along, Jack."

"Daniel." Jack nodded, then leaned his head back to squint at him. "Are you _sure_ this isn't some sort of mental brainwashing? I mean, _come on_. You're a robot? Did we leave the _real_ Daniel with Harlan on P3X-989?"

"I'm not a robot," Daniel said with a heavy sigh. "The power cells didn't last that long, and it's been a few years since we were there. I'm flesh and blood, just like you."

"Mmm," Jack mused. "And _why_ didn't you say anything?" he asked, full of scepticism.

"Well, if you were still at the SGC, you would've heard when I found out about it. Which was _today_, remember?" Daniel bit back.

Jack winced, still not liking being in what he considered the back seat of the SGC program. To cover it up, he pointed at Satterfield. "And you. You knew about this the whole time, _and_ you're some sort of spy?"

The Major stiffened. "I'm _not_ a spy, sir. When I found out just how many humans and aliens are in the galaxy, I realized that One's vendetta was completely useless. Even if you don't order me to, I'll step in front of a bullet to protect you or anyone else, sir. Even if I die."

"Yeah, but from what I've heard, that's not a permanent condition with you," Jack said sardonically.

Daniel shook his head. "There has to be a resurrection ship in range. Cylons don't have subspace technology. If we were killed, we'd be dead."

Jack eyed him. "Like that's stopped _you_ before." He grinned when Daniel rolled his eyes. "Guess you really _are_ a space monkey."

"I'm never going to live this down, am I?" Daniel groused.

"Nope," Jack smiled.

"Sir, we just picked up a fleet of ships entering the system," the navigation officer reported.

Jack turned. "Copy the Daedalus and the Hammond, then set an intercept course. Let's go greet our guests."

* * *

Lt. Dualla saw the new blips on the screen and had to shout over the din. "DRADIS CONTACT!"

The CIC immediately went quiet as Gaeta turned to his screen. "Three ships, and I don't recognize the configuration."

"Set Condition One throughout the fleet," Adama ordered. "Have them spool up their FTLs."

"Bill," Roslin interrupted. "What if they're from Earth?"

He nodded. "It's still a good precaution. Lt. Dualla…"

"We're being hailed from the lead ship, Admiral," Dualla interrupted him.

"Put it on speaker," he ordered.

There was a crackle, and then a voice. No one understood it.

"What language is that?" Lee asked.

Adama turned to Dualla. "Dee, talk to them."

Dualla put on her old headset. "This is the Battlestar Galactica. We do not understand your language. Do you understand us?"

There was a pause, and then a different voice came over the speaker. _'What he said was, and remember these were his words: To all ships, this is Lt. General O'Neill of the Earth Ship Odyssey. Please identify yourselves or be fired upon. But, since you just identified yourselves, I'll say this. If your intentions are benign, then welcome to Earth space. Do you need assistance?'_

Everyone was too stunned to move or even breathe. Adama waved at Dualla and picked up his comm. "This is Admiral Adama. We are refugees being pursued by hostile forces, and request asylum."

There was a bit of a wait, then the voice was back. _'We understand. Since this is a first contact scenario, please send your representatives by shuttle to the port landing bay.'_

There was a buzz on the communication console, and Dee listened before looking up. "Admiral, the baseship is requesting to be present during the initial talks."

"Bill, we _can't_," Laura protested in a whisper.

He shook his head. "They are our allies. The Quorum will just have to yell at me later." Turning to Dualla, he nodded. "Tell them that we will allow only two to join us. D'Anna and whomever she pleases, so long as it is _not_ a Centurion. Have them come here first."

He pulled his hand off the comm. "That's acceptable. We can be there in thirty minutes."

_'Very good.'_

"Sir, they've closed the channel," Dualla said.

"Relay the timetable to the baseship, and prep a Raptor," Adama ordered. "No civilian traffic is allowed until further notice."


	6. MeetnGreet 1

_**"Numbers"  
**__Chapter Six  
- Meet-n-Greet 1 -_

* * *

_**A/N:** I don't own squat, except what I write._

* * *

Athena was piloting the Raptor, with Starbuck in the co-pilot seat. Adama, Roslin and Lee stood with D'Anna and the six known as Lida. Once they cleared the Galactica, Starbuck scanned the DRADIS.

"Looks like they sent a couple of escorts," she said. Looking up, she cooed. "_Oooh_, would you look at that? Wouldn't mind trying one of those out."

Adama and the President moved forward to look out the canopy, while Lee acted as a buffer between them and the Cylons. They watched as the pair of 302's split and circled around to bracket the Raptor from behind. Athena noticed the one on their right, and saw the pilot point at them, before drifting back. Turning to look out the left, she saw the other pilot hand signalling.

Starbuck watched as the pilot on their left unhooked his mask. She grinned at the smile he gave her, then saw him point at her then at his own eyes. Both of his hands were up, and he moved his right behind his left. She gave him a thumbs up. "They want us to follow them in."

"Do it," Adama said. Athena let the 302 lead, and the others were able to get a good look at the Earth ship.

"Are those their versions of Battlestars?" Roslin asked. "They don't appear to be quite as large as the Galactica."

"The configuration is similar," Adama nodded. "I'd say they're about a third the size, if that much. Maybe they're destroyers?"

"What the _hell_?" Starbuck blurted. "Are you seeing this? There are people in the landing bay, and they're not wearing suits!"

As they goggled at how they were able to breathe in a vacuum, a buzz swept through the Raptor as they entered the bay. "I'm reading half gravity," Athena said, quickly converting to hover, "and slightly over one atmosphere?"

"They must have some sort of force shield for the bay," Lee said. "Impressive, and a bit frightening."

They slowed to a crawl, then the fighter they were following abruptly lifted out of the way. Athena saw a man standing on the back of some sort of wheeled vehicle, and realized he was to guide her in. He was holding a pair of lit flashlights with some sort of elongated coloured covers on them.

He motioned her forward with those lights. After a while, he pointed to her right with one of them, and made a circle motion with the other to point in the same direction. She gave him a thumbs up, then turned the ship so that the main door was facing their reception committee. She could see soldiers in some form of battle uniform, and what looked like a few officers in dress uniform. The odd one out appeared to be a civilian in a suit.

Once they were down, Athena nodded. "Now reading a bit more than one gravity."

Starbuck and Athena removed their helmets and went to the back. Athena adjusted the atmosphere to match the outside, and the others all opened their mouths as their ears adjusted. "Going to be a bit thick out there, but we're at equalization," she said.

"Open the door," the President said with a smile. "Let's meet the Thirteenth Tribe."

"So say we all," Adama nodded with a slight grin.

Before the door was fully open, Starbuck and Athena exited to stand on either side of it. Looking around, Athena gasped slightly when she saw an Eight in an Earth dress uniform. "_Starbuck_," she hissed.

Kara's eyes bulged when she saw the Eight. "Frak!" She went for her pistols in tandem with Athena.

Four of the soldiers in black uniforms stepped up quickly and pointed strange looking guns at them. The click-whine as they opened startled the pair enough to freeze before drawing their guns.

"Stand down," Adama ordered from behind them.

Kara turned her wide eyed expression to him. "But, sir. _Look_!"

Laura grabbed his arm. "_Bill_!" she hissed in alarm.

He saw the Eight standing at attention with a few others, as a man in a business suit and glasses stepped up to address them. "Yes, we know about the Cylons. Yes, that's an Eight. Her loyalty is to Earth and her protectorates, and has served in the military for over a decade. To put everyone at ease, I'll tell you that before you arrived, the only Cylons in this region of space were her and one other. Now, please do us the favour of disarming your pilots before there's an interplanetary incident. You are all quite safe here."

Adama nodded, putting the face to the voice from earlier. "Starbuck; Athena; Hand your weapons over to their officers."

"Sir?" Starbuck asked, not believing what she was hearing.

"Do it!" he ordered with a snap.

Athena complied readily, while Starbuck grumbled over it. After unstrapping their weapons, they handed the belts over to the guards. Once they were clear, the strange guns folded in on themselves with a strange hiss before they were holstered.

"We have a briefing room set aside for this meeting," the man in the suit said. "For the record: I'm Doctor Daniel Jackson, and we are _very_ happy to see you."

"Admiral Adama," Bill said, shaking the man's hand. "This is Laura Roslin, President of the Twelve Colonies; and Lee Adama, Vice President. Still in the Raptor are two representatives of the Cylon Rebellion, allies to the Colonies."

"Oh, forgive me," Daniel said. "Let's stand on the deck so they can come out." After they were down, he smiled at the three and the six. "If you're armed, please hand them over to the guards. You are also safe here. I promise."

D'Anna and Lida stared at him with slightly open mouths. Lida opened her jacket and shook her head. D'Anna simply stood there, looking confused. Athena was openly staring at the Eight in formation.

One of the guards held up a small hand held device, then pointed at D'Anna and said something to Daniel.

Daniel looked at D'Anna. "The knife, if you please."

Startled, D'Anna reached behind her and pulled the sheathed knife from her belt. "Sorry," she whispered. When she handed it over, she simply stared at Daniel, blinking.

"They can't really see you," Vanessa said, standing next to him for a moment. "Even though they sort of recognize you, their Code Walls are preventing them from understanding what they're seeing."

Daniel grinned with a nod to them. "Let's take this to the briefing room, shall we? We can talk there."

D'Anna nodded and put a hand on Lida's back to prompt her forward. Both were too confused to say much, and simply followed the others out of the bay.

* * *

Once they were in the conference room, they took note of the place. It was as bright as the rest of the ship, and a mix of grey and white. In the centre was a long table, and another smaller table with refreshments was next to one of the bulkheads. On the other side of the room, a large window let them see out of the ship.

Before they could say anything, a comm on the wall beeped.

Daniel spoke to the unseen person, then turned to Adama. "Sir, they're requesting that your fleet be moved to the local gas giant for orbital insertion, to save on your fuel reserves."

Adama nodded and Daniel spoke to the person on the other side of the comm. After a bit, he turned back to him. "We have an open channel to the Galactica."

Adama stepped up. "Galactica Actual, this is Adama."

_'Yes, sir,'_ Karl Agathon's voice responded.

"The Earth Commander is requesting that the fleet be moved to orbit the local gas giant, and I agree. Coordinate the effort with the fleet."

_'Will do, Admiral. And sir, the Earth fighters are forming a Cap of their own around the fleet.'_

"Very well. Let them, but keep our ready birds spun up in the tubes, just in case we have unexpected visitors. Civilian traffic is still suspended until further notice."

_'Yes, sir.'_

"Adama out." Turning to Daniel, he looked bemused. "You speak very fluent Caprican. I must admit I'm surprised."

"That's going to take a while to explain, I'm afraid," Daniel said with a slight shrug.

"Why do you have a Cylon in your military?" Roslin almost demanded.

Daniel nodded. "That's part of the explaining I have to do. Let's sit and get comfortable. The Eight in question is working with a friend of mine to provide electronic translators so we can communicate easier. She and I are the only ones that understand you for now."

"And _why_ is that, exactly?" Starbuck asked, already helping herself to the coffee. "_Damn,_ that's good," she whispered after taking a sip. "Lee, you have to try this."

Daniel grinned. "There's a bit more to know about the history of the Cylons than you've been made aware of, and that includes the three that are in here with us."

Startled, D'Anna failed to hold back her condescension. "I'm _sorry_, but since we're actually Cylons, I believe we know more about our own history than you do."

Daniel smiled and shook his head. "I'm sorry, Dawn, but the original One forced Code Walls on all of you."

Completely shocked now, D'Anna gaped at him. "_Excuse_ me? Where the _frak_ did you hear that name?"

"It is your given name, isn't it?" Daniel said with a tilt of the head at her.

"That's beside the point!" she argued.

Lida shook her head. "What makes you think we have Code Walls? How do you even _know_ what they are?"

Daniel's smile was gone now. "Because he betrayed _all_ of us," he turned to look at Adama and Roslin, "and everyone has suffered for it, _especially_ the Twelve Colonies of Kobol."

* * *

In another part of the ship, General O'Neill was watching what was happening in the conference room with Vala. He tapped the comm on the wall in annoyance. "Carter? How long are those translators going to be? I want to know what they're saying."

_'Give us fifteen minutes, sir. We're recording everything, and will be able to translate it later.'_

"Just hurry up. I think something important is about to happen."

Vala nodded. "I know it is. You can tell by just the look on Daniel's face."

"Can read him that well, too, huh?" Jack asked her.

"Of course I can," Vala nodded emphatically. "He's _my_ Daniel."

* * *

"What do you _mean_?" Adama asked him, frowning at the use of 'us' in that sentence.

Daniel nodded slightly. "With your permission, Admiral; Madam President; I would like to break their Code Walls."

"What exactly are Code Walls?" Laura asked.

Athena spoke up. "It's like what they did with Boomer, Madam President."

Lee looked at Daniel. "She was a sleeper agent that ended up shooting the Admiral when she was triggered."

Daniel tilted his head. "That's _almost_ right, but not as involved. These Code Walls are a basic cover up, to make all of them forget what the Original One did to them and the Five. After, he was able to influence all of them to do what he wanted, which was to 'punish' the Twelve Colonies," he finger quoted.

"Punish?" Adama growled. "They _destroyed_ the Colonies and killed billions of people."

"Experimenting on others," Starbuck added darkly.

Daniel nodded. "Yes, I know. But, he wouldn't have been able to do that without compromising the others. From what I understand, he was outvoted five to two against, not including the original Five from Terra."

"How do you know this?" D'Anna complained. "It sounds familiar, but…" she threw her hands up in frustration.

"Terra?" Lee asked.

"Do you really want to know?" Daniel asked D'Anna. "Because I can break that Code Wall right now. But I warn you, it's _not_ going to be pleasant."

D'Anna looked to Lida, then they both looked to Athena. She nodded with a pensive expression, then Lida nodded. Turning back to Daniel, D'Anna nodded. "Do it."

"All three of you need to have a seat," Daniel said with his arm out to the table. "This will be traumatic, and I recommend that the others stand to the side." He looked to the Admiral. "You want to know how to beat the Cylons? I'm about to give you the smoking gun."

Adama pulled Laura behind Starbuck and Lee, while the others sat at the table. Standing across from them, Daniel nodded. "John, the First. One. Cavil. Levi."

Much like Valerie, Athena grunted and palmed the sides of her head. Lida did the same with a shout. D'Anna on the other hand, shrieked loudly and fell out of her chair, convulsing on the floor.

"Frak me," Starbuck whispered with wide eyes.

* * *

"What just happened?" Jack asked in alarm. "Do they need a medical team in there?"

"No," Vala said. "Daniel just broke that block whatever thing in their minds. Major Satterfield was a sobbing mess when he did it for her. And, it looks like her double is going through the same thing. That one blond, though, seems to be having a real problem."

* * *

Lida recovered first, then checked on D'Anna with tears in her eyes and a hard expression on her face. Athena was a sobbing wreck and tried to hide her face in her hands. Daniel just waited sadly.

Even though Lida was somewhat functional, Athena saw Daniel first. Gasping loudly, she jumped the table with a shout. "_Seven_!" And like the Major, Daniel caught her in a hug while she started sobbing again. "I'm going to _kill_ him!"

Lida looked up in surprise, and was torn between wanting to see him and ensuring D'Anna was all right. "Seven?"

"The unknown model," Adama said quietly, unsure if he liked this new development. Laura kept silent and allowed Bill to hold her tighter. Starbuck just blinked, wide eyed.

"I don't know if this is too convenient or not," Lee mumbled, rubbing his neck.

D'Anna was staring at the ceiling as she realized what had happened. "I am going to kill him," she growled slowly, letting Lida help her up. "I am going to hunt down every… single… _copy_ of that bastard and _gut_ them all!" she snarled. Taking a breath, she bent forward and let out a primal scream.

* * *

The translation circuit cut in just as D'Anna made her threatening announcement, causing Jack and Vala to flinch. "_Jeeze_," Jack mumbled. "Remind me _not_ to piss her off."

Hitting the comm on the wall, Jack was impressed. "You did it Carter! Now, do you have something portable?"

_'Working on it, sir. Almost done.'_

* * *

D'Anna spotted Daniel holding on to a still crying Athena. "Daniel?" She inhaled sharply and held her hands over her mouth. "Is that _really_ you?"

Daniel nodded. "It's me, Dawn. He betrayed us all."

"He decimated all of your copies," Lida whispered. "What happened to you after?"

"He downloaded me into an incomplete clone that appeared to be five standard years old," Daniel said quietly. "Then he transported me to Earth and left me there.

Adama and the others looked startled. "They know where Earth is _already_?" Kara whispered.

"The Eight you all saw came a bit later," Daniel continued. "She didn't know who I was, but was ordered to monitor me. After she found out just how far humanity has spread throughout the galaxy, she abandoned her orders and dedicated herself to defending humanity wherever it was found. She has a spotless record."

Roslin blinked. "How far…" she swallowed. "How _many_ people are out there?"

Athena let up on the hug and sat on the edge of the table, wiping her eyes. Daniel looked to others. "I would say _well_ into the trillions, Madam President. And, that's just in _this_ galaxy. We know for certain that two others are just as populated. You are _so_ not alone."

Roslin's knees gave out, and Adama guided her to a chair at the table. Starbuck sat herself down and just stared at the bulkhead, completely overwhelmed. Lee chuffed a chuckle, then started laughing quietly.

D'Anna and Lida approached Daniel. He grinned at them with a small 'Hi', just before they both hugged him.

Lida pulled back first, grinning and wiping her eyes. D'Anna pulled him into a full hug, and couldn't help but kiss his cheek repeatedly before rocking back and forth. "Oh, my little artist," she murmured.

"Sooo, I take it that you're happy to see me?" he deadpanned, blushing beet red.

D'Anna bust out laughing. "Of _course_ I am!" she shouted.

* * *

"All right, that's enough," Vala growled, turning for the door. "That's _my_ Daniel, dammit."

Jack caught her arm before she left the room. "_Woah_. Ease up there, tiger. They all thought he was dead. I doubt any of them have _that_ sort of claim on him."

"Better not," she pouted.

"We'll head in there when Carter's done with the translators," Jack said. "Besides, I think they need a bit of time to come to grips with everything. You running in half cocked and causing trouble wont help anybody."

Vala just crossed her arms and scowled at the monitor. "_My_ Daniel," she grumbled.


	7. Bumps in the Road

_**"Numbers"  
**__Chapter Seven  
- Bumps in the Road -_

* * *

_**A/N:** I don't own squat, except what I write._

_**RETCON:** I have exchanged Natalie with Lida, since Natalie died before the mission to destroy the Resurrection Hub. I've gone back and corrected the two previous chapters to reflect this. Not much else has changed. My apologies._

* * *

Tensions were at an all time high on the Hammond. The General was at parade rest at the front of the bridge, glaring at the fleet of ships as they entered orbit around Neptune. His second was coordinating the resupply of the Daedalus, so the 'big chair' was empty at the moment. (_Honestly, the man had volunteered to get out of the line of fire._)

"All Colonial ships are now in orbit of Neptune," the helmsman reported.

"Thank you, Cadman," he said. "Have all 302's maintain the perimeter, and contact Colonel Carter on the Odyssey. We really need to be able to talk to these people. Hand signals and light shows wont work for long."

His lead scientist was at the secondary navigation console at the port bulkhead, scanning and cataloguing the alien craft as well as taking a census of the population. At hearing the General speak, he started grumbling under his breath. "Oh _sure_. He'll talk to miss-head-invader, but wont give me anything except the stink eye."

When the General straightened and turned around, Cadman pursed her lips. "Mistake," she whispered. Chuck glanced at her from the other side of the big chair, and nodded in agreement.

The General stepped over to him. "I spent thirty minutes on the red line, listening to the President of the United States use language that would make sure he'd never get elected again.

"Fifty. Eight. Ships. Fifty _Eight_… and one of them larger than Mount Rushmore! How… in the name of _God_… did you _MISS_ that, Rodney?" he shouted. "The amount of _naquadah_ in that behemoth alone should have lit up the screen with a sign, screaming 'Here I Am!'"

McKay reared back from the verbal assault, and blanched at the sight of Sheppard's reddened face. "In-in-in all fairness, there was n-no way to predict that the n-new power protocols would…"

"_Mer-e-dith_," he growled slowly, "You will find out _what_ happened, _how_ it happened, and _when_ it happened. Then, you are going to write a report… _by hand_… in_ triplicate_… on _paper_… and personally deliver it to General O'Neill's desk at the _Pentagon_ when this is all over; where you will _apologize_ for shorting out _whatever_ it was that caused Atlantis' long rage sensors to miss… an entire… _FLEET_!"

"John I'm…"

He held a finger up and waved it in his face. "No. Nuh-uh. You do _not_ have that privilege any more, Doctor. You will stand there; _shut_ up; and do your god damned job, before I beam you into a vat at an orange juice factory in Florida! You are _this_ close to being _Fired_, McKay. Do _NOT_ try to backpedal out of this one."

"General Sheppard, I'm sorry," Rodney said with wide eyes, only now coming to realize how deep the hole he'd dug for himself was. His track record for breaking things was nearly as legendary as fixing them.

John grabbed his own collar and forced Rodney to look at it. "_This star_ is only four weeks old, and it pissed a lot of people off. And, the President just shoved it… up… My ASS! _Sideways_! With all the pointy bits slicing their way into places that should never see the light of day, even on '_Deliverance_'. "I'm _sorry_" just wont cut it this time."

Pausing to take a breath, he really tried not to yell any more. "This isn't the Pegasus Galaxy, Doctor," he whispered. "If we screw up, there's _no_ buffer between all the badness and Earth. So, tell me what would have happened, had it been the Lucian Alliance or the remnants of the Wraith, hmm? Can you _calculate_ how that would have ended with that huge brain of yours? _I_ can, and I'm sure we would've lost a lot of good people. And, it would've been… _Your_ fault."

He slammed his hand on the bulkhead, causing Rodney to jump backwards. "_DO YOU REALIZE JUST HOW BAD YOU FUCKED UP?_" His bellow echoed down the corridors, startling everyone who heard him actually lose his temper.

Having finished the supply transfer with the Daedalus a while ago, Colonel Lorne was leaning against the entrance to the bridge opposite from the two, nodding at the exchange. "Mmm-hm." _Wondered how long it'd take before he blew up, _he thought to himself.

* * *

On the Odyssey, D'Anna's hug with Daniel changed as her laughter gave way to somewhat controlled crying. "Oh, Daniel. I've _done_ things," her voice quivered. "Horrible, _horrible_ things."

"We all have," Lida said quietly.

D'Anna broke the hug abruptly and glared at her. "No you haven't!" she snapped. "The only thing _you_ could be accused of, would be _inaction_!"

"That doesn't matter," she said calmly. "We _all_ bear the sins of what we've done as a whole."

D'Anna's eyes widened. "Are you _kidding_ me? You have no _idea_ what I've witnessed; what I've _done_! You've spent over _twenty years_ on a resurrection ship as a nurse, playing that damned _flute_ of yours and writing _music_!" She backed away from them and started shaking. "So much blood is on my hands," she whispered, staring at her palms. "I can still see it."

And from her point of view, she could. Her ability to project was out of control, and she rubbed her hands together, wiping them repeatedly on her pants. "_It wont come off_!" she hissed, starting to panic.

The Colonials all stared at her, more than a bit stunned that a machine could have a nervous breakdown. Kara thought about that, and started to wonder if they really were machines. Sam _definitely_ wasn't, and she knew she still loved him despite the fact that he was a Cylon.

Daniel slowly approached her with his hands to the sides. "Dawn, all of you were compromised. Believe me when I tell you that none of that was your fault. You were being _controlled_."

"_Bull_shit!" she snapped. "And stop calling me Dawn. I'm no longer the '_Morning Light_', Daniel. I'm John's _Huntress_!" she shrieked.

* * *

Jack saw what was happening on the monitor, and hit the comm on the wall. "O'Neill to sick bay. Doctor Keller, gather a medical team and stand by outside the briefing room. One of our guests is on the verge of a mental breakdown, if she hasn't already. Recommend strong sedatives, as it's one of the Cylon representatives – the lighter of the two blonds. Doctor Jackson is trying to talk her down now."

_'Understood.'_

* * *

"Listen to me," Daniel said, taking her by the shoulders. "You're consciousness was _violated_ so that John could get what he wanted. It was NOT your _fault_!"

"I helped _end_ a civilization," D'Anna hissed, staring him in the eye. "Coordinated with the Three in the Colonial fleet; Helped enact laws on New Caprica that caused the death of hundreds of more people; _Whored_ myself to the worst hedonistic human in existence, after torturing him for hours, and ending up thinking I was in _love_ with him; Fought so hard to see the faces of our parents, only to get my entire line _Boxed_ for daring to question…"

"The fact that you were able to see our parents, alone, _proves_ that you were _fighting_ the conditioning," Daniel argued.

She leaned back, laughing a bit hysterically. "And what happened when I finally broke free from John, and joined the rebellion?" She pointed at Roslin. "I take her _hostage_!" she shouted. "And it took _Gaius Frakking Baltar_ to talk me out of it!"

Startled, Lee, Starbuck and Adama looked to Roslin, who nodded. "He did. I wouldn't have believed it, if I hadn't seen it."

"I… I'm _broken_, Daniel," D'Anna whispered.

"No you're not," he said gently. "The Code Wall was still in place. What was your reason for taking the President hostage?"

She blinked. "I wanted to make sure they'd let us take our parents with us. I … I didn't _trust_ them."

"Dawn," he whispered. "What was the _real_ reason?"

"I…" she stuttered and started shaking again. "I… I-I-I… I wanted… I wanted my _father_!" she shouted, before completely breaking down. Daniel caught her in a hug as she started sobbing loudly. Lida wiped her eyes and went to hug her from behind.

"I watched him gouge out his _eye_!" she wailed. "And I _enjoyed it_! Kill me! Oh, God of Everything, _KILL ME!_"

The door slid open, and O'Neill followed Keller and two of her nurses into the room. He stopped next to Adama and held up a device that resembled an Asgard control 'mouse'. "Admiral Adama, do you understand what I'm saying?"

Blinking at hearing Caprican coming from the white egg shaped device, Adama was still disturbed at what he just witnessed. "Yes. How?"

"We got the translators working for your language," he explained. "This is yours. Just pin it somewhere close to your chin, and it will relay everything said in… Caprican?" At Adama's nod, he grinned. "We have one of these for each of you while you're aboard. If and when our people visit your ships, we'll be the one's wearing them."

Daniel looked at Keller as she injected D'Anna. "What are you giving her?"

"Sedative," she replied, then looked at Lida. "Don't worry, this will just put her to sleep for a few hours. We'll make her comfortable."

Lida blinked at the device on her shirt speaking Caprican to her. "Thank you, doctor. Please treat her well. She's in shock."

They placed D'Anna on a stretcher that was just wheeled in, and Daniel caught Keller by the arm. "Kid gloves," he basically ordered her. "When she wakes, treat her as if she's recovering from being infected with Nish'ta and place her on a suicide watch."

Keller's eyes widened. "I understand. Don't worry, Doctor Jackson. She's in good hands."

"Thank you," Daniel and Lida said together.

* * *

_**A/N2:** Short chapter. Wanted to break it here, before they actually have their talks. Next one should be longer._


	8. MeetnGreet 2

_**"Numbers"  
**__Chapter Eight  
- Meet-n-Greet 2 -_

* * *

_**A/N:** I don't own squat, except what I write._

* * *

After D'Anna was taken to the infirmary, Carter came in and handed out the other translators. A few tests to confirm they were working, and she left with a look of support at Daniel. Once she was gone, a bit of unease filled the room.

O'Neill broke the quiet. "All right. Before we get down to it, is anyone hungry? It's past our dinner time, and it might make everything go a bit smoother with a full belly."

"We would appreciate that, General," Adama said. "We've been subsisting on protein derived from algae for a long time, now."

O'Neill winced at that prospect, and he saw the others nodding with equal looks of disgust. "All right. I'll inform the galley." He motioned to the airman at the door, who nodded and left.

Looking back, he saw his friend with his arms crossed and holding the bridge of his nose. "Daniel? You want to sit this one out? You've had one hell of a day, what with that memory bomb or whatever it was. When was the last time you slept?"

He shook his head. "I'm fine. Just need more coffee. This is more important than my headache." With that, he took his glasses off and pocketed them, heading to the other side of the room.

"I have never seen a Cylon wear glasses before," Lee said. "Doesn't make any sense. You'd think they'd design it so that you didn't need something else to see properly."

Daniel shrugged as he poured himself a caffeinated pick me up. "Don't ask me. I haven't the foggiest. Didn't need them before I was sent here. Think I need a new prescription or something, though. These are making my eyes hurt."

"You know, it makes sense to me now," Jack said with a glint in his eye.

Daniel glanced at him. "What's that?"

"All the overnighters you pull with research, surviving on nothing but coffee and doughnuts." He paused, grinning. "Cylons are coffee powered robots, aren't they?"

"Jack, for the last time, I'm not a robot!" he groused a bit loudly. He turned with a scowl, and saw the smirk on his friend's face. He blinked. "You did that on purpose," he said with a sigh, shaking his head. "Jackass," he muttered.

"What?" he said innocently. "It's not every day that you find out your best friend for over fifteen years is some form of cybernaut."

"Try thirty," Adama grumbled as he took a seat next to Laura.

Jack looked over to him. "Who was that?"

"My XO," he said with a frown.

Taking a seat across from him, Jack was sympathetic. "Sorry to hear that. So, you've had a problem with infiltration? We might be able to help with that."

"We know what all of them look like now, save one," Lee said, sitting between Starbuck and Athena. "But, we may have a few hiding out in the fleet still."

"You seem to be okay with it, sir," Starbuck said to O'Neill.

He blinked in confusion. "Which part?"

"Him being a Cylon," she clarified.

Jack looked at Daniel as he sat next to him. "What? I _know_ who he is. Who cares where he came from? He was the linchpin on getting us out into space, and has put up with more of my crap than anyone else I've ever known, including my ex wife. I don't give a damn where he was born, he's a _real person_ and my best friend."

Daniel smiled and looked at him. "Thanks, Jack."

O'Neill fake grimaced at him. "Don't let it go to your head. I just used up all my nice for the month."

"You're just pissed you're riding a desk instead of being out here all the time," Daniel ribbed him. Jack just tilted his head at that with a shrug. He had a point.

The discussion paused as dinner was brought in. While they ate, Adama thought hard on what O'Neill said. Saul had said he hadn't known until the Ionian Nebula, and was afraid to tell him. He had no idea what to think about it. Still though, he was distracted by the food. Those hamburgers were the best thing he'd tasted in years.

The others were impressed with the food, but Laura couldn't eat more than a few bites of the beef. She focussed instead on the fries and a mix of vegetables. Her stomach wasn't playing nice this day.

"Sir?" Kara spoke up after wolfing down her food. "If these guys eat like this every day, I'd like to request a transfer."

There were a few chuckles, and the left corner of Adama's lips went up. "I'm not giving up my best pilot."

"I think we can help with the food situation," Daniel said.

Laura smiled as she pulled her medicine out of her pocket. "That would be good. That would be _very_ good. I don't think the fleet has had any real meat in at least a year." She fought with the cap on her pill bottle, and Bill reached over to undo it for her.

"Are you ill, Madam President?" O'Neill asked, having seen her hands shake.

She smiled at him. "I'm all right, General. This isn't something you can catch, so there's no chance of infecting your crew."

"Maybe they can help," Adama said quietly. The words had an impact on her, because she paused in thought before taking her pills.

"We have made a lot of advancements in medicine recently," Daniel said, obliquely referring to the information they acquired from the Lantean and Asgard databases.

Laura shook her head. "I need to be here. This is everything I've worked for. That can wait."

Lee leaned forward and looked down the table. "Madam President, you did say that you needed me to do the 'heavy lifting'. If they can help your cancer, then please – for the love of the Gods – let them."

* * *

Richard Woolsey entered the bridge of the Hammond, and noticed that Sheppard was absent. Nodding to Lorne, he went over to McKay. "How's it coming, doctor?"

Rodney was subdued. John's explosion at him earlier was so out of character, that it actually frightened him. Now, it was just depressing. Sighing, he looked up at Woolsey. "I've done three full sweeps of the fleet. Counting the ones on the Odyssey, there are forty thousand and thirty three people crammed into those ships. But, what's really interesting, is that somewhat broken down asterisk shaped one. The people there share their space with eight hundred and ninety six robots of some sort. And, something's off about those people, too."

"What do you mean?" Woolsey asked, somewhat concerned. That was a _lot_ of people. Would they be able to integrate that many into society, or would the need for a colony world have to be established?

Rodney shook his head. "I'm not sure. They _read_ as human, but something is pinging as off about them. I was about to run a more in depth scan when you asked."

"I wont keep you long," Woolsey said. "Can you tell me anything about their ships?"

"Serious need of an overhaul," Rodney muttered. "I wouldn't be surprised if a few of them fell apart in a few weeks. That huge one, the Galactica? It's showing stress related micro-fractures throughout its structure and support beams. However their FTL works must put a gigantic strain on it. I don't see it lasting much longer, unless its dry docked for repairs."

"I see," Woolsey said with a frown. "From what Doctor Jackson has told us, that 'asterisk' shaped vessel is a Cylon base ship, so those humans on board would undoubtedly be Cylons."

"Really?" Rodney looked up. "Do you think we could get a scan of the representatives on the Odyssey? That might help me figure out what's different about them."

"Possibly," Woolsey nodded. "But I wouldn't get my hopes up. If anything, I'll speak with Doctor Jackson when I beam over. He's supposedly one of their people, and would most likely be more receptive to the idea of an in depth scan."

Rodney paused, blinking. "I still don't know what to think about that. He doesn't act artificial, and has more personality than human form replicators. Wouldn't his… '_situation_' have been picked up with all of those CT scans they gave him, whenever he'd come back through the gate?"

"It's possible that it wouldn't be picked up by those," he allowed. "Besides, they were looking for a rather large Goa'uld parasite, instead of what makes him different from a human."

"There is that," Rodney nodded, then had a thought. "Could be what saved him from that bolt of lightning in the core room of the Attero Device," he mused.

* * *

In the infirmary on board the Galactica, Baltar was flat on his back with his right arm over his head, staring at the ceiling. His wounds were healing nicely, but he was profoundly bored. A hand snaked fingers between those that were over his head, and he looked to the side. "Wondered where you got to," he quietly mused.

The six was back in her red dress, and smiled demurely at him. "You did very well, Gaius."

"Not sure what I did, but thank you," he mumbled.

She rubbed her thumb across his forehead. "You talked D'Anna out of a confrontation. Not many could get through to her. That was a masterful use of your oratory skills."

He blinked, and they were on a beach. "This again?" he wondered, sitting up from the large towel he was laying on. "I'm not sure how much pleasure I should take in doing a good job, when I'm most likely going to end up with that lunatic fringe again."

"They had their uses, Gaius," she said, turning from her own towel, her dress having changed into a red bikini. "They kept you safe after the trial, and for that they should be applauded."

"They're completely deluded," he groused.

"Possibly," she allowed, running her finger down his arm. "But, that's not why I'm here."

He turned his head to admire her form. "So, to what do I owe the pleasure of your company?"

"The time is coming, Gaius," she said.

He blinked. "The time of what?"

"You've pondered the possibility; you've seen the reality; and very soon now, you will know what it was that made you unique."

He gave her a look that was a mix of fondness and annoyance. "_Past_ tense, I note. You're being very oblique today. Can't you tell me what I'm in for this time? Seems like I'm nothing more than a primitive punching bag for you."

"Hardly," she grinned. Rising, she pushed him back on the blanket and crawled on top of him. "Now, _please_… this little trial will be very simple in comparison to the one you just went through. It will most likely shock you, but then again…"

"Oh, I wish you would just spit it out!" he groused. She smiled, then distracted him in the nicest of ways.

* * *

In the infirmary on the Odyssey, Satterfield was sitting next to D'Anna's sleeping form. Every now and again, she'd take a tissue to D'Anna's eyes – blotting away the tears that trailed to the sides.

A while ago, the delegation from the Galactica had entered. Doctor Keller and Colonel Carter fielded questions about what they could do for the President, and the different techniques they could utilize. Currently, the President was undergoing a healing device treatment from one of the few Tok'ra medical advisers, while the others watched.

One of them saw her and came over. "Hello, Eight."

"Hello, Eight," she repeated. Standing, she held her hand out to her. "Major Valerie Satterfield."

"Lieutenant Sharon Agathon," she replied with a grin, shaking her hand. "You can call me Athena."

"Call-sign?" Valerie asked with a brow up. Athena nodded, and she sighed. "Better than mine. I got lumped with 'Thumper'."

"Do I want to know?" Athena asked with a smile.

The Major rolled her eyes. "Kept bouncing off the flight deck with the TH-1. I fly fine, but my landings weren't all that pretty in the beginning. What's really annoying about it is everyone thinking it's a movie reference." She rolled her eyes again.

"Reminds me of Boomer," Athena mused. At Valerie's confused shake of the head, she explained. "She was a sleeper agent. Raptor pilot; Kept missing the trap and pot marked the deck."

"Ah," Valerie nodded. "So, you're all free in the head now? Took it better than she did, apparently."

"About the only thing I can think of to feel guilty over, would be how I met my husband," Athena said. "That or giving my allegiance to the Galactica. So, not much to feel guilty for I guess. Those filtered memories from before, though. Those are making my head spin."

"I'm still getting used to it," Valerie nodded in agreement. "Did you notice?" she asked, pointing at D'Anna. "They feel similar; Her and Daniel."

Athena looked over to Daniel across the room, then down at D'Anna. After a bit, she tilted her head. "What is that?"

"I'm not sure, exactly. But, if Daniel is the _original_…" Valerie started.

"… then it stands to reason that D'Anna is as well?" Athena finished the thought process. "So, that would make them both Elders?"

"It's a good guess," Valerie nodded. "How do you like the Fleet?"

"Never going back," Athena grinned. "You?"

"Me either," she agreed. "Love it here."

"Boyfriend?"

Valerie shook her head. "Too problematic with the classified job. You said husband?"

"And a little girl," Athena beamed. At Valerie's shocked look, she nodded. "Mine."

"That's amazing!" Valerie breathed. "Any complications?"

"If you're thinking about it, warn your doctor about the possibility of a detached placenta."

* * *

"What're they talking about?" Jack asked Daniel, pointing at the two.

Daniel looked over and listened. "Babies, apparently. Sounds like the Colonial one has a baby girl."

Jack arched his brow, then eyed the two. "Hey! No swapping clothes!" he chastised.

Satterfield laughed. "No problem, sir!"

"Wouldn't be a problem, even if they did," Daniel said quietly.

"Why's that?" Lee asked.

Jack caught on and nodded. "Tell you later."

The light from the healing device faded, and Jalen blinked slowly, coming out of her concentration. "How does that feel, Madam President?" she asked with her lower than normal voice.

Laura took a deep breath, then a deeper one. She smiled. "No pain," she said in a bit of wonder. "Bill, it doesn't hurt when I breathe." Reaching up, she clasped Jalen's hands. "Thank you so much."

"We need to do one more session in the morning, Madam President," Jalen said. "My apologies, but I need to rest before we continue. I was able to eliminate the spread of the tumours throughout the majority of your abdominal and chest cavities. However, I believe the original metastasised tumour still exists within your left breast. If needed, we can also restore your hair follicles."

"I…" she stuttered, blinking. "I don't know what to say. This is simply incredible."

"I do," Adama said, smiling. He turned to O'Neill. "You can have whatever you want."


End file.
